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Hanukkah, Jesus & Friends

My dear friend Marcy invited my family and I over to her house for a special occasion. I must tell you that Marcy is one of my long time fr...

My dear friend Marcy invited my family and I over to her house for a special occasion. I must tell you that Marcy is one of my long time friends. She and I have been friends since high school. I blogged about our friendship early in my blogging days here My friend Marcy

She invited us over to participate with her family in Hanukkah. Jewish.... they are not, but they began the celebration of Hanukkah in their family to bring a special tradition to their family during a difficult time in their lives. When we arrived the table was set with food and the chairs were set in a circle.
As we sat down Marcy began to tell us the story of how Hanukkah came to their family. How she and her children adopted the tradition shortly after her husband had left her. She wanted to bring something special of Jesus, the Messiah into their lives. A tradition that would be special to their family. She had her sweet daughter Anna read us the story of Hanukkah, and then her son Ben read out of the book of Deuteronomy.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your strength.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."
Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Then Marcy lit two candles on the Menorah.

The middle candle called the shammus (servant) and one of the eight candles. The eight candles representing the eight days that the oil burned miraculously during the re dedication of the temple. During the eight days of celebration a candle is lit every night and presents are exchanged.

She was so thoughtful and gave each of us a present.

This is my daughter with her present.

Now realize although Marcy and her family honor traditions and love Jesus, they are completely hilarious. When my daughter opened hers and saw this pencil with a "scary" clown we had to take a photo and Bethany's face just cracked us all up!

After opening presents we ate. To close out the evening we played games.

I LOVE the blending of traditions, Hanukkah and our Saviour's birth.

To think that we were celebrating just as Jesus would have celebrated in his own home.

I LOVE long time friends, friends that no matter how long it has been since you have seen them it is like you have never been apart.

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